Lilith
Playstyle A fragile executioner, evasive but unable to survive a many blows, the 'Master of Malifaux' is unequal in her use of terrain - utilizing teleportation magic to simultaneously ambush foes with her Nephilim raiders while abducting victims to kill in obscured safety.' Tactics None Escape My Gaze One of Lilith's major advantages is her ability to cast 'Tangle Shadow's or '''Wicked Vines through obscuring terrain; preventing enemies from drawing LoS and thus leaving her immune to ranged counter attacks. If you can master this - keeping Lilith obscured from the enemy, while maintaining spell range to them - her effectiveness will increase. Stay or Die Wicked Vines most obvious use is to target a high Melee threat un-engaged with your forces - making it almost a Paralyze (if they can't move into engagement range, they are essentially useless). Alternatively this can be used to execute weak minions if Lilith or her crew can push the target. This offers decent synergy with Beckoners, Mr Graves, or even Lilith's Cherub. Lilith can even do it herself with the Upgrade Wicked Mistress (see Builds). Hostage Transfer Tangle Shadows is key to controlling the fight. Mastering it will maximize Lilith's full raid potential, allowing her to pick her battles and dissect the enemy one-by-one. Its basic application is as follows: * Lilith moves into spell range of her victim while (ideally) staying hidden behind cover. * Cast Tangle Shadows to teleport a powerful melee-focused ally (Lelu, Lilitu, a Mature Nephilim, Mr Graves, or Nekima are highly recomended) to the enemy crew, and simultaneously summons a victim to her. * Lilith attacks the target with high accuracy (since she hasn't charged). If she didn't waste an AP to move into target range, she can attack twice - usually killing them outright. Improved Raiding On its own, Tangle Shadows is very effective, but can be made even more impressive with two of Lilith's upgrades: * Summon the Blood is very effective against low Wd crews. Instead of attacking the abducted victim, have Lilith use this Upgrade to cause damage all non-'Black Blood' victims adjacent the ally she sent to the enemy crew. While you can send a typical Enforcer, you can throw out an expendable and cheap Terror Tot to do just as much damage. Alternatively, a nasty combo can be pulled off with a Black Blood Shaman and a The Depleted. Use the Shaman to give the Depleted Black Blood, teleport it to the enemy crew, and use this upgrade on it to deal damage. Its high Melee accuracy makes it hard to disengage from and, once killed, it explodes dealing even more damage * Rapid Growth is good against crews with plenty of Enforcers. Use Tangle Shadows and have Lilith assign the enemy she kills to a Terror Tot to turn it into a Young Nephilim (or, if the target killed was an Enforcer, turn a Young Nephilim into a Mature Nephilim). If you suspect the enemy won't bring m/any Enforcers, consider a Black Blood Shaman instead of this upgrade. It won't give you any Mature Nephilim, but will increase the number of Terror Tots you can grow into Young Nephilim. Advanced Teleportation Tangle Shadows has even more application than its basic use (hence why we are still discussing it). Consider the following: * Run a fast model up the field (like a Terror Tot), then have Lilith replace the runner with an unactivated Enforcer - essentially giving it the movement of its ally for that turn. * Summon a distant ally to your side, then teleport it again in another direction (giving up Lilith's activation to have the target travel nearly the length of the board and still be able to act). * Pull an ally out of an engagement and replace it with a more powerful model - letting you shuffle your Enforcers to keep them alive (replace the injured one with a healthier one). * Move an enemy threat Lilith away from Lilith by swapping it with a less threatening target (such as your own minion or an already activated enemy). * Use the spell on Lilith (since it isn't restricted to 'other' models) - letting her travel twice her walk distance, and do so through impassible terrain. Builds Lilith has no limited Upgrades which gives her a nice selection when it comes to combining her builds. In addition to the two mentioned above (Summon the Blood and Rapid Growth). Of her remaining exclusive upgrades she has a pair of decent builds - both of which improving her Melee prowess while retaining her raider theme. Lethal Lure (Living Blade + Wicked Mistress) This build helps maximize the deadliness of Wicked Vines. Consider: * Moves into target's charge range * Cast Wicked Vines * Use Wicked Mistress to pull the target to Lilith - injuring it and giving Lilith a free non-charging strike due to Living Blade. Should Lilith land her attack, this deals a minimum of 7 damage, and can potential inflict 10 (or 16 if Lilith didn't need to move and used her remaining AP to make a second attack). Woodland Execution (Beckon Malifaux + Wicked Mistress) This build requires a bit of a setup for Lilith, but causes serious injury if pulled off. Consider: * Uses both (0) actions to produce a forest within Charge range of the target, and increase Lilith's charge damage. * Use Wicked Mistress to have the model Charge into the forest - gaining Slow and taking minor damage * Charge though the Woods to attack twice - dealing improved sword damage If you want to free up an upgrade slot, Beckon Malifaux can be replaced by hiring a Waldegeist since these tree-men can summon a forest as well - offering Lilith even more terrain to hide behind. Schemes Lilith benefits from schemes that support her ability to abduct enemies and keep to her side of the field. It is very rare for her forces to travel beyond the halfway mark of the field and invade the opposition, though there are always exceptions to every rule. Line in the Sand The default scheme really isn't Lilith's thing, but its not horrible if her favorite aren't available. Indeed, if Lilith positions herself in the middle of the board, her Teleport range will cover the majority of the field - allowing her to swap tired allies for rested ones to flood the centerline with Schemes to finish this goal. Beloved Schemes Lilith and her crew are killers - they love schemes that focus on the enemy. If following appear, take them: * Assassinate * Deliver a Message * Make them Suffer * Murder Protege * Vendeta Decent Schemes * Distract and Cursed Object can be a little tricky, but not hard. Teleport targets to your Young Nephilim, Paralyze the victims and then interact with them. Maintain for three turns for full VP. * Entourage works great with Barbaros. Hold him back till the late game, then combine Tangle Shadows with his Nimble to get into the back yard in almost one turn! Bodyguard can also benefit from this strategy by keeping Barbaros safe from harm (but still able to be sent out if needed). * Frame for Murder isn't too tricky since Lilith can Teleport an enemy leader into engagement with your chosen model/ victim (ideally one with high Melee and low Wd's/ Df). * Spring the Trap is a simple trick. Lay down the required Schemes, summon the enemy leader to the Schemes, rake in the VP. An adjusted method of this can make Plant Explosives '''work too. * '''Protect Territory and Power Ritual are lovely scheme for Lilith since she prefers to keep to her side of the board where she can defend her markers if any enemy threatens to remove them. Undesired Scheme * Breakthrough and Plant Evidence aren't great since Lilith prefers to stay on her side of the field. That said, she can make an explosive minion push via Tangle Shadows near game's end, or have Tuco Ortega Deploy from the Shadows and start dropping schemes early on. * Outflank isn't bad since Lilith's crew (like most Neverborn) have speed, but their low numbers will force you to play a bit defensive and make a rush for this late game to achieve. * Take Prisoner '''isn't ideal since '''Black Blood makes it hard to keep a Prisoner alive (if they hit you, they can hurt and eventually kill themselves). However if you can abduct an Enforcer late in the game and paralyze it with Barbaros or a Young Nephilim, its possible to pull this off. How to Counter Lilith almost always hides, so if you suspect to be facing her either take forces that can attack without needing LoS (like a Guild Austringer or Pigapault) or avoid leader-focused schemes (e.g.: Assassinate, Deliver a Message,' Spring the Trap)'. Lilith's biggest threat will be her Tangle Shadows but its range isn't infinate so try to keep your forces at least 1' away from her. This will force her to move into range, burning AP she'd prefer to keep for teleporting her crew or attacking kidnapped victims. Additionally, Lilith will be teleporting Enforcers to tie your crew and engaged in Melee, divide your forces into 2-3 groups and keep them spread out. Moving one group along each board edge will force Lilith to divide her attention as her teleport range cannot similtaniously reach opposite table edges, giving you some freedom to follow your Schemes (and even guess her goal depending on which group she chooses). Finally, while Lilith will hide, she has Wp and Wd's for a master and no innate means of healing. If you can make her feel under threat of being attacked and hurt, she will usually either run (spending AP she'd prefer to be use teleporting her forces) or recall her raiders to protect her from the threat she is facing; freeing up the rest of your forces and giving them a bit of a break from the raids.